body we hide
Within my body is the mind palace, a mental safe space I created to access during episodes of mental stress caused by anxiety and dissociation. In the mind palace, as explored in my animation, I picture myself freely, often in multiples, dancing with, competing against and taking care of each other. They and we and I: all simultaneously wild, angry, sensual, and quiet, allowed to be visible and unabashed in this safe place because they are hidden. My mind palace, like so many aspects of mental health, is often invisible. Through my short animated film I seek to give my experience of anxiety and dissociation, and my own particular self-treatment, a face.
The “body we hide” references both the space of the mind palace and the versions of myself that live within it. The visuals of the animation are purposely spare, leaving room for viewers to enter and experience this space for themselves. For me the experience of this space is closely linked to dance, so as I shaped the film I envisioned the piece as choreography; the sound, the tracking shots through architecture and the solo and partnered dance shots invoking movement in relation to the body.